Feature request: Sync Trakt Lists as Plex Collections

[NGDM]

Feature description

Sync Trakt Liked Lists as Plex Collections instead of Plex Playlists.

Previously discussed: #134 (comment)

Use case

Plex's playlist GUI is very limited compared to Collections, and I'd like for shared users to have access to the synced lists.

To keep in mind:

• Playlists can have items sorted by ranks, Collections can not.
• Playlists are in user profile, Collections are in library itself. I think only admins can create Collections, not invited or managed users.

Workarounds

No workarounds possible

Plan to implement

Sorry, no experience in Python

[glensc]

api for this seems to exist:

• create collection: https://python-plexapi.readthedocs.io/en/latest/modules/library.html#plexapi.library.LibrarySection.createCollection
• get collection: https://python-plexapi.readthedocs.io/en/latest/modules/library.html#plexapi.library.LibrarySection.collection

[glensc]

createCollection has a required parameter section. should the section be the same where the item belongs, or should it be configurable?

[glensc]

Also, you can Grant Access to a playlist, so the request is not really justified?

[NGDM]

createCollection has a required parameter section. should the section be the same where the item belongs, or should it be configurable?

Collections should be library/section-wide so I'm not quite sure why this is required.
Apparently they do belong to a certain section, but can be duplicated on other sections? (source)
I'd say your proposition to use the same section as where the item belongs should work fine.

Also, you can Grant Access to a playlist, so the request is not really justified?

Granting Access seems to be new indeed, but is done list-by-list and user-by-user which isn't really practical with lots of lists and users.
Also, playlist navigation is very cumbersome in the Plex UI. Just having the lists in a Collection view would already be a big enhancement.

Finally, I think you're already planning it like that, but to be sure, having the option to sync the lists as both Playlist and Collection in Plex would give the best experience.

[glensc]

Adding both options of course bloats the code :)

[simonc56]

Tables to understand how Plex lists work, so we could improve playlist sync.
Anyone can help to complete it.

	Playlist	Collection	Smart playlist	Smart collection
Scope	User	Library	User	Library
Dynamic filters	❌	❌	✅	✅
Items ranking	✅	❌	✅	❌
Can be created by Plex admin	✅	✅	✅	✅
Can be created by managed user	✅	❌	✅	❌
User can add or remove one item	✅	✅	❌	❌

	Collection	Playlist
Created	on the Plex server by the Plex administrator	by a Plex user on a device app
Visible	to all users on the Plex server	only to the user that created the playlist
Can contain	different types of media files (movies, TV shows, music)	only one type of media file
Accessed from	the media section	the section menu
Can be smart (dynamic filters)	✅	✅
Can be used as source in filters (see screenshot)	✅	❌

[glensc]

Collection is "section" bound (section.createCollection), Playlist is "server" bound (server.createPlaylist). Also collections are visible in sections anybody having access to section can see collection, playlists are per user (but can be shared to other users)

[simonc56]

so, summary:

1. finish Feature request: Sync Trakt Lists as Plex Collections #1667, switch Playlist to Collection (no configuration)

2. create smart playlist or smart collection from the collections

or the second option can stay manual?

After several tests on Plex Web GUI, I agree with this summary 👍
PTS will create and update plex collections from trakt lists if user is admin (or playlists if not admin, as before).

Second option can stay manual.
Once the user created a smart playlist|collection (with needed filters) based on collections content, the smart playlist|collection will update dynamically.

[glensc]

I've tried to tackle this problem several times, and that collections require section make the problem rather difficult to solve.

internally the playlists have been global, but now it must be section based, means need to pass section variable around, a lot.

logically it would make sense to create collection to current section, but it's easier to create collection to specific section.

[simonc56]

From what I saw, items just need to be tagged to be part of a collection.

Some other tools :

• https://github.com/vladimir-tutin/Plex-Auto-Collections
• https://github.com/mrbuckwheet/Plex-Meta-Manager-Config/
• https://github.com/mattheys/PlexCollectionTool
• https://github.com/lucasvianav/plex-manage-collections

[glensc]

Also, one difference with Collection is that all items in the Collection must be in the same Section or you get 400 Bad Request when adding items.

With playlist you could have playlist consisting of items from dirrerent Sections or even different servers, with Collection we may even need to create Collection in every Section...

EDIT: not sure about this. something else caused 400 error

EDIT2: I'm unable to create cross section collection

[simonc56]

Also, one difference with Collection is that all items in the Collection must be in the same Section or you get 400 Bad Request when adding items.

No problem.
Just like we do for playlist, we add item only if we have it in library.
Here, we add item only if we have it in section.

[glensc]

Here, we add item only if we have it in section.

meaning I could have "Greatest 1000 Movies" in every section...

[simonc56]

Yes, in every section where you have movies.
If users create multiple movies sections, they do it on purpose in a logical manner.

[glensc]

I'm forced to create different section for movies in specific language, so I don't have to go fix metadata for every movie to be in specific language.

[simonc56]

Ok. And having a "Greatest 1000 Movies" in each section is a problem ?
Each one will contain greatest Movies in the specific language of the section 👍

[glensc]

not really a problem, but the fact what's different with collections and playlists